A Mercenary's Job
by Stephy825
Summary: The young mercenary was broke. Totally, flat broke. Luckily, he was then hired as a bodyguard for a hefty sum of money to watch over a young girl. Unfortunately, this girl is a super spoiled brat.  NeuroGalaxy Contest Entry


**Summary :** The young mercenary was broke. Totally, flat broke. Luckily, he was then hired as a bodyguard for a hefty sum of money to watch over a young girl. Unfortunately, this girl is a super spoiled brat. (NeuroGalaxy Contest Entry)

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A Mercenary's Job**

The young brunette groaned as he stifled another yawn. He had to find some cash soon, or else he'll end up having to sleep on the grass again. Sighing, he stood up from the old bench and stretched his arms. "C'mon guys, let's go and find something to do." the boy muttered as he turned to his two companions. One of them was a yellow feathered bird, and the other was a winged creature that looked like a griffon minus the mane and had blue fur. They both yawned as well and looked as sleepy as their owner, but they all knew if they got some cash; a warm bed under a roof would be waiting for them. And recently, they haven't been able to feel that.

Natsu looked around the town; trying to see if there was anyone that he could help out. It was a long shot, but maybe they might give him some extra cash if he assisted them in something. Out of the blue, he noticed a merchant having a troubled look on her face. He decided to approach her and see what's wrong...you know, for the money. "Uhm, miss? Can I help you?"

She turned to him and showed a small smile. "Are you a mercenary?" she asked.

"Hey, answer my question first." he said with a frown. The lady chuckled. "Alright then. My name's Hanna, and yes, I do need some help. Something that I need a mercenary to take care of."

"_Really_? Well you found the right person. Whatever you need, we can do it. Right guys?" the two creatures nodded showing a confident face.

"You really want to help me out? It's quite difficult you know."

"As long as there's money involved." he replied. Hanna laughed again. "You don't really seem to be the greedy type, so I'll tell you what I need. As you can see, I'm a merchant. I sell all kinds of things to make a living. But because of this I'm terribly busy all the time, so I can't teach my only daughter how to continue the business..."

"Oh, I see. You want me to be her bodyguard and watch over her don't ya?"

"Yes, that's right. It's not that very long, you just need to go to Gramville and you're done. My husband is there you see, so he would take care of her until he's done and comes back to Aeramina."

"Okay! I can do that!" Natsu smirked with confidence.

"That's good! I'll bring you to my house and introduce her. If you don't mind, I want you to move to Gramville as soon as possible. Today would be good."

"Huh? How come?"

"Well...it would be better if I showed you why instead of telling you."

"Uh, okay then..."

-o-

He didn't expect the young girl to be so...bratty. As soon as he entered the house, he heard a loud voice shouting "Mommy! Do you have my snack?"

The young mercenary already had a bad feeling about this. The girl (apparently her name was Miri) was pouting as her mother pushed her to the door with a backpack filled with potions of all sorts. The brunette wanted to at least have one potion (because traveling can be hard for his companions) but Hanna warned him not to get any of the merchandise. He sighed, maybe another time. At least he was paid six thousand StarCoins in advance.

It wasn't long after till the two teens and the two pets were walking on the lone road on their way to Gramville. Natsu felt a whole lot better now that he had some money. And at this pace, they could probably make it to the next town by nightfall. And then he'll be able to finally sleep in a nice soft bed...

"Hey! Bodyguard!" he cringed at the tone of the green-haired girl. "What?" he replied; trying to keep his tone as calm as possible.

"I'm tired. Carry me!"

"_Are you serious_? We've only been walking for five minutes!" the brunette retorted.

"I said carry me! Or else I'll take your money!"

"_What_?"

"Mommy said that I can take back some of the money she gave you whenever I want. So you better do as I say or else you'll end up doing this for nothing!" the male teen flinched. He definitely did not see this coming at all. Sighing deeply, he squatted down a little and gestured her to go on despite the silent protests of Flyte and Amedeus.

"Now that's more like it." she quickly went on, and now Natsu was stuck giving her a piggyback ride. The fifteen-year-old groaned. "You're heavy." the result to that comment was a hit on the head. "_Ow_!"

"Say that again and I'll hit you harder."

"Okay okay..! Just, stop struggling!" he snapped.

So what happened was that poor Natsu had to carry her for quite some time, actually it wasn't until they crossed the brown bridge that Miri finally told him it was enough torture for now. The young mercenray practically collapsed on the crowd since his legs were so tired from doing the piggyback ride. Flyte and Amedeus rushed to their owner to check if he was alright and didn't pass out while Miri was simply looking at the scenery. Natsu groaned as he tried to stand and failed; falling on the ground again in result. "_So sore_..."

"Exhausted already bodyguard? You're such a wimp." the thirteen-year-old girl commented while her expression read that she didn't care about his condition at all.

"_Tell me that again when you've lost some weight_." he muttered softly so she won't hear it. After a few minutes, he was able to stand up while wobbling a little; but nevertheless he was fine. Stretching a little, he shook his head a little to clear his mind and only focus about the money in his pocket. "_Just grin and bear with it Kimura, it will be all worth it in the end_..." he thought.

After they passed the bridge, the brunette noted that the sun was already setting. That was a bad thing since monsters like to attack more frequently in the night time. It was just lucky that they haven't came across any so far. Or maybe it's because of the open road. Either way, they had to move quickly before it would be too dark to see anything.

Pretty soon, they were able to reach the thick forest. Natsu had passed this way before, and knew that after the grove of trees would be their destination. Miri had calmed down a little, and even seemed a little scared that they were going to have to go through the forest since it was already early evening. "Well, there goes my soft bed." he muttered with a disappointed sigh.

"What do you mean?" apparently the young girl heard what he said.

"Well, traveling around isn't always fun and games you know. Most often you have to sleep outside since we don't get that much money all the time." he paused while his face went a little red. "That's kind of the reason why I agreed to bring you to Gramville. I haven't been really eating properly, and Flyte and Amedeus haven't had much luck either. If this goes well and we can get there before it gets too late, we could have at least a decent place to stay for tonight."

"Oh..." there was a stiff silence between them for a few moments. "L-let's keep walking shall we? We have to move or else some monsters might catch us."

The green-haired girl nodded quietly. And so, they continued to walk until Flyte chirped with alarm. There was someone or something nearby. And by the way Amedeus was growling at the nearby bush, it wasn't good. "Flyte, Amedeus, stand by. Miri, get behind me."

"O-okay."

The rustles in the bushes grew louder, and before they knew it, they saw glowing yellow eyes staring right at them. Out of the blue, a weird log thing jumped out of nowhere and was heading straight for Miri. She screamed, yet Natsu was able to deflect the tackle with his own arm. The force of the attack sent him falling on the ground and a cut wound. Still, it didn't stop him to issue the commands to Flyte and Amedeus to fight the monster. "Flyte, Peck! Amedeus, Float and strike from behind!"

The two pets did as they were told, and were easily able to take down the wooden creature. It ran away afterward, leaving the four of them alone again.

"Hm, it escaped. That's pretty rare for a Lockwood." Natsu mused aloud, but then groaned at the gash he received. It was starting to bleed now, but it wasn't that grave or anything. He was thinking about what to do with it until Miri suddenly took out a rolled-up bandage from the backpack her mom gave her and wrapped it around the wound; tearing the end and tieing it tightly in place. "There. That should stop the bleeding for a while."

"T-thanks..."

"...it's the least I can do after you saved me." she replied while avoiding his gaze; blushing a little. Suddenly Amedeus began to growl even louder and before. Flyte looked really nervous too; Natsu took it as a sign that a group of monsters are approaching. Without thinking, he took Miri's wrist and swiftly ran as fast as he could while the two pets hesitantly followed. The mercenary could already hear more footsteps behind him; it was the sound of Lockwoods running. "Hey! At least slow down bodyguard!"

"If we stop now, those monsters will be able to catch up to us! We need to find a way to take them off our trail and the only way to do that is to exit the forest!"

-o-

The four of them were panting hard as they were able to see the moonlight shining down upon the wide plain. Gramville was in sight, and Natsu noticed that there was a man leaning on the gray wall, as if waiting for someone. When he saw them, he had a big smile on his face. "Miri!"

"Dad!" the two ran to each other and hugged. The brunette felt a little out of place, but he couldn't help but grin too at the father and daughter. Only Flyte saw the tiny frown that he hid quickly. The Froufrou chirped softly as she pulled the jacket of her partner. "Huh? Oh, Flyte...it's nothing. Really."

"I'd like to thank you for bringing my daughter here safely." the large man said with gratitude as he shook Natsu's wounded arm with so much power that the male teen shouted in pain. "Ah, sorry. I guess I sometimes don't know my own strength."

"I-it's fine..." he replied while wincing in pain. "Ugh, that hurt." he thought.

"Anyway, I hope we see each other again. If I see you on the road, I'll be sure to give ya a discount on our stuff!" he said with a hearty laugh. "Alright, come on Miri. It's time for us to go."

"Okay." the two then turned around and walked the other direction in to the city. "...see ya soon Miri." Natsu suddenly called.

"...you too...Natsu..."

_A mercenary's job is not only to serve, but to protect those who you hold close._

The boy had no idea why he suddenly remembered that, but he closed his eyes and smiled as he thought of it. "Protect huh..."

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**A/N : **You can tell I was so lazy in to making this something good. Haha...sorry about that, I crammed it kasi eh. It's like, the deadline to submit this one day after...haha...

Any of you guys have accounts in NeuroGalaxy? Maybe we can be friends and stuff. XD Never mind, but at least leave a review before you leave. Please?


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